Is Herbalife Safe for Pregnancy and Breastfeeding?

So here are two questions that have been on our Facebook page regularly:

• Is Herbalife safe for pregnancy?
• Is Herbalife safe while breastfeeding?

The fact is that I can research this and write a great article on it for you. Gather all the facts and present them to you.

However I am pretty sure that none of these diet/ nutrition/ weight loss products (Herbalife and others) have been tested and been approved as 100% safe for pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Why do you want to take Herbalife?

Is it because you want to lose weight? Is it perhaps because you think it might help you with being healthier?

Maybe I am a complete idiot here (feel free to rip me apart in the comments!), but I have a very strong opinion on this topic.

Here are 10 Things I Believe In:

1. We can get all the nourishment we need from FOOD. Yes from just eating the right things. Have you heard of things like spinach, nuts, seeds, avocado pears? These things are good for you.
2. There are bad things we eat that we shouldn’t. Coke, chocolate, sweets, biscuits, sugar, caffeine… the list here is endless. All those yummy things that we probably eat lots of? Well those are the things that will make a big difference if we cut down on them. Yes I am guilty too, I am not preaching here. I am just saying what I know to be the truth.
3. Exercise is good for you, it will make your body and your mind healthy!
4. When you are pregnant you need to nourish your body with the right things, you are growing a baby!
5. When you are breastfeeding you need to nourish your body with the right things, you are still growing a baby!
6. When you are pregnant you will be a little (haha a LOT) heavier, this is normal. Relax and enjoy the fact your body is making a miracle!
7. When you are breastfeeding you will still be heavier than normal, you will also have stretch marks and podgy bits. This too is normal. Give yourself a pat on the back, you have made a baby. Your body is amazing!
8. Meal Replacement Shakes? Yes they are actually called that. No shake will make up for a meal, it never will. Who came up with this anyway, it’s crazy!
9. These products are made in a factory, this is not food, it is not real nutrition. Real food is grown outside, pick it off a tree, but don’t get it out of a factory.
10. No weight loss program or nutrition program will come close to what you can do on your own. Just eat right, get some exercise and cut down on certain things. Even the odd naughty thing is fine, in moderation. You won’t suddenly explode in fat rolls if you eat one chocolate.

I think you know what I am going to say here, I personally don’t think taking Herbalife (or any other type of diet/ weight loss products) while pregnant or breastfeeding is a good idea at all.

Furthermore Herbalife is an MLM (Multi Level Marketing) company which doesn’t sit well with me. It reminds me of other MLM companies like Amway and Jeunesse. Overpriced products that may or may not be bad quality (sorry I am really not sure because I have not really delved into it).

These MLM companies seem to have a cult like feel to them with distributors trying to recruit people so they can make more money. It just makes me so suspicious. Check out this article where customers accuse Herbalife of being a pyramid scheme.

I know we all want to be thin and beautiful, but the truth is that no diet or weight loss products have been tested as 100% safe for pregnancy or breast feeding.

Just briefly surfing around online I found so many complaints about Herbalife it is scary!

Here are some of the things people are saying about Herbalife and their products:

• Products cause Nausea, Vomitting and Diarhea
• Products cause Headaches
• Products cause Muscle Pain
• Products cause Stomach Pain
• Products cause Blood in Stool
• Products cause Heart Pulpitations
• Products cause Dizziness
• Products cause Tiredness and Sluggish
• Products smell and taste like chemicals when they claim it is natural, read this article I found on the ingredients.
• Distributors refusing to give refunds as promised when products don’t work
• When products don’t work Distributors say it is because customer is not taking products as instructed, there is nothing wrong with the product
• Initial weight loss but when stopped taking the products gained more weight than before
• They are a pyramid scheme
• They are a scam
• When asking Distributor about all these physical side effects you get an answer of it is the toxins leaving your body, you must drink more water!

Here are some links to sites with Herbalife complaints, feedback and news:

• Consumer Affairs
• Yahoo Answers
• Complaint Board
• Los Angeles Times
• NCBI
• New York Times
• Business Insider
• Prevent Disease

See if they were such a great company surely there would not be so much fuss about them right? Where there is smoke…

So considering you need to really be putting the best you can into your body to grow your baby during this time I would really stay away from Herbalife while pregnant and breastfeeding.

If you want to take the risk after you are finished growing your baby go for it, but please wait until you are finished breastfeeding.

I wrote an article in December last year about my Body After Birth, have a read and have a laugh. And yes I will write an update to that article. I am getting there slowly, the right way.

So please, look after your baby, look after your body and give yourself a break!

What is your experience with Herbalife? Please leave a comment.